The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 20, 2012
Filed:
Aug. 16, 2007
Sasha Dos-santos, Valrico, FL (US);
Sean J. Barbeau, Tampa, FL (US);
Philip L. Winters, Tampa, FL (US);
Rafael Perez, Temple Terrace, FL (US);
Miguel Labrador, Tampa, FL (US);
Sasha dos-Santos, Valrico, FL (US);
Sean J. Barbeau, Tampa, FL (US);
Philip L. Winters, Tampa, FL (US);
Rafael Perez, Temple Terrace, FL (US);
Miguel Labrador, Tampa, FL (US);
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL (US);
Abstract
A ride matching method is disclosed herein. The ride matching method addresses many of the limitations associated with traditional dynamic ride matching applications. The method is unique in its ability to accept trips with schedules that cannot be expressed in terms of a simple recurrence pattern (e.g. Monday thru Friday work schedule). It can handle one-time and occasional trips. It is also distinct in its use of spatial analysis techniques to locate matches. Specifically, the use of a shortest path solver enables the ride matching method to perform a search along the path of a user's trip, in addition to the customary radial search around the endpoints. The shortest path solver is also used to calculate the driving distance between the user and a match. This provides a more accurate measurement than the straight-line distance used by other methods, especially in the presence of barriers.